Beijing

Rock singerto be released

A rock singer detained in Beijing on suspicion of "fabricating fake terrorist information" has been moved from criminal detention to administrative detention and will be set free on Aug 2, the singer's lawyer said on Wednesday. Wu Hongfei, lead singer of the rock band Happy Avenue, was placed under criminal detention after she said on a micro blog site on July 21 that she wanted to blow up two government offices. The singer will also be fined 500 yuan ($81) as punishment for her comments, police said.

CMC promotes six officers to general

The Central Military Commission on Wednesday promoted six senior military officers to the rank of general. The promoted officers include Deputy Chief of the People's Liberation Army General Political Department Wu Changde, Political Commissar of the PLA General Armament Department Wang Hongyao, Political Commissar of the Academy of Military Science Sun Sijing, Political Commissar of the Beijing Military Area Command Liu Fulian, Commander of the Nanjing Military Area Command Cai Yingting and Commander of the Guangzhou Military Area Command Xu Fenlin. President and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping presented the officers with certificates of command.

Federation honors female astronaut

The All-China Women's Federation has proclaimed Wang Yaping, the only female astronaut to participate in the Shenzhou X manned space mission, as one of China's most outstanding women, the federation announced on Wednesday. Wang, along with astronauts Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, was sent into space aboard Shenzhou X on June 11 and returned to Earth on June 26. During the mission, Wang gave the nation's first "space lecture" during a live broadcast from the orbiting space lab Tiangong-1.

Xinjiang

Tourist arrivals surge 28 percent

Tourist arrivals in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region surged 28 percent to 22.25 million in the first half of the year, regional authorities said Wednesday. Tourism revenue grew 23 percent year-on-year to 23.8 billion yuan ($3.86 billion) during the period, said the Xinjiang Tourism Bureau. Domestic tourists totaled 21.62 million in Xinjiang, more than half of them traveling in their own vehicles. Tourists from Kazakhstan accounted for more than 70 percent of overseas tourist arrivals in the region, the bureau added.

Sichuan

Food poisoning sickens 37 people

Thirty-seven people fell sick with suspected food poisoning in Sichuan province on Tuesday, local authorities said Wednesday. A total of 192 people attended a banquet on Tuesday at a restaurant in Bazhong, the city's food security commission said in a statement. By Wednesday noon, 37 diners had sought medical treatment and 10 hospitalized for further treatment, it said. None of the patients were in critical condition. An investigation is under way.

Liaoning

27 punished over deadly blast

The national work safety watchdog on Wednesday announced that 27 people have been punished over an explosion that left four people dead last month at a tank storage area owned by PetroChina. The State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its website that the blast on June 2 in the city of Dalian, Liaoning province, caused direct economic losses of 6.97 million yuan ($1.13 million). The blast was caused by nonstandard gas cutting on a tank full of inflammable gas, investigations showed.

Guangdong

11,473 drug traffickers arrested

Police solved 10,559 drug-trafficking cases and detained 11,473 suspects in the first half of 2013, Guangdong provincial public security officials said on Wednesday. Police also stormed 132 drug making operations and seized 5 tons of drugs during the six-month period. By the end of June, the number of registered drug users in Guangdong reached 373,500, officials said.

China Daily - Xinhua

(China Daily USA 08/01/2013 page3)